Heavyweight boxing & mixed martial arts ratings and commentary

April 2014

April 01, 2014

Tomasz Adamek fell from the top ten for the first time since June of 2012 and Odlanier Solis dropped out of the top 25 in this month's Heavyweight Boxing Top 100. Vyacheslav Glazkov entered the top ten along with Tony Thompson, who makes his 3rd foray into that territory.

Adamek's loss to Glazkov sent the Polish fighter out of the top ten for the first time since his loss to Vitali Klitschko in November of 2011. A cruiserweight for most of his career, Adamek first made the heavyweight top ten in April of 2010 after scoring a majority decision over #6 Chris Arreola. He made it as high as #4 before losing a lopsided 10th-round TKO to Klitschko. He battled back in mid-2012 with a unanimous decision over #8 Eddie Chambers and he remained constant at the #7 spot since then. He drops to #17 this month.

Despite all his promise and a solid career, olympic gold medalist Solis hasn't spent much time in the top ten. Like Adamek, he also suffered a loss to Klitschko that stalled his upward momentum but had regained his lost ground priot to the current setback. Solis jumped into the top 25 at #17 after beating quality gatekeeper Monte Barrett with a 2nd-round TKO.

When he beat Ray Austin (10th round DQ that should have been a stoppage) he jumped to #9, where he remained until the March, 2011 loss to Klitschko that derailed his career for a while. After a promising first two minutes of the first round, Solis was caught at the temple and fell; the punch wasn't as devastating as the knee injury Solis suffered that ended the fight and postponed his career for an entire year. Solis came back and won three fights that put him as high as #11 before the loss to Thompson dropped him to #33.

-3Yr

-1Yr

-6mo

MarRank

AprRank

Fighter

Rating

Rated Record

March results• April schedule

1

1

1

1

1

WLAD KLITSCHKO

76.78

39-3-0

• 4-26 vs. #30 ALEX LEAPAI

2

2

2

2

2

VITALI KLITSCHKO

45.14

27-2-0

last win -18 months.

3

3

3

3

3

ALEX POVETKIN

28.30

20-1-0

19

6

4

4

4

KUBRAT PULEV

27.42

13-0-0

• 4-05 vs. tba

39

5

5

5

5

TYSON FURY

24.75

12-0-0

16

4

6

6

6

ROBERT HELENIUS

24.55

11-0-0

29

13

11

12

7

VYACH GLAZKOV

23.57

8-0-1

UD 12 #7 TOMASZ ADAMEK

12

11

20

23

8

TONY THOMPSON

18.99

20-3-0

SD 12 #13 ODLANIER SOLIS

5

9

8

8

9

RUSLAN CHAGAEV

18.63

16-2-0

7

187

18

9

10

DERECK CHISORA

18.60

10-4-0

Tony Thompson Refuses to Go Away

While Adamek and Solis have had their moments in the top ten ruined by Vitali Klitschko, Thompson has had the same happen twice due to Wladimir.

Thompson was ranked #6 when he first fought for the title; he did well in the early rounds before wearing down and losing in an 11th-round KO. At age 36 he could have packed it in but he continued to fight and wins over Chazz Witherspoon, Paul Marinaccio, and Maurice Harris were enough to put him as high as #8; he was at #10 when he lost again to Klitschko, this time by a 6th-round TKO. He dropped out of the top 40 this time.

Eschewing retirement again, he seemed likely to become a gatekeeper to other title-seekers. And that's just what the February 2013 fight against David Price appeared to be, though those in the know felt the test might be tougher than Price's team counted on. On cue, a 2nd round hook to the ear felled Price and Thompson moved up to #11; a win in the July rematch (he was the underdog again) proved it wasn't a fluke and Thompson sat at #8.

Thompson took a fight with Kubrat Pulev just one month later and a unanimous decision loss dropped him to #20. Certaintly it was time to pack it in? Nope, he took the fight with Solis and won a lazy, hard-to-score affair and popped back into the top ten for the third time. Now 42, who knows how much longer Thompson will be able to mix it up among the top contenders but he keeps battling his way into more paydays.

Glazkov's career is far shorter and he had only stepped into the top ten once before. In December of 2012 Glazkov beat Tor Hamer and jumped from #19 to #11; just two months later he scored a draw with also-undefeated Malik Scott and dropped to #13. A win over Byron Polley put him at #10 last August. But it was temporary as he was bumped the very next month to #11. This month's win over Adamek makes his status in the top ten secure, and puts the 29-year-old on the road to a future title shot.